Biography
I am a Postdoctoral Associate at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
My academic background is in behavioural ecology. My research has used field-based observational and experimental techniques to investigate how animals communicate with each other, and why communication signals have evolved into specific designs. With a particular focus on birds, I have worked on vocal mimicry, the dawn chorus, song ‘duels’, the use of acoustic cues by nestlings, and dynamic movement signals (dance).
My first degree was a BSc/BMus from the Australian National University (ANU), which included a year as an exchange student at the University of Oxford. For my honours research she combined her interests in music and biology in a study of the function and structure of the dawn chorus in the superb fairy-wren, Malurus cyaneus, with Professor Andrew Cockburn. I pursued her interest in birdsong by working in Costa Rica on the banded wren, Thryophilus pleurostictus, with Professor Sandra Vehrencamp and Dr Michelle Hall from Cornell University, before assisting with a project on purple-crowned fairy-wrens, Malurus coronatus, in the Kimberley, run by Dr Anna Peters and Dr Hall at the Max Planck institute. Returning to the ANU she worked with Professor Cockburn and Professor Rob Magrath on superb fairy-wrens and white-browed scrubwrens, Sericornis frontalis, respectively, before commencing my PhD.
Leaving the wrens behind, my PhD investigated the ecology of vocal mimicry in one of the world’s most famous mimics: the superb lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae. My study was conducted under the primary supervision of Professor Magrath, and advised by Professor Cockburn, Dr Hall, Dr Naomi Langmore and the late Dr Richard Zann
My academic background is in behavioural ecology. My research has used field-based observational and experimental techniques to investigate how animals communicate with each other, and why communication signals have evolved into specific designs. With a particular focus on birds, I have worked on vocal mimicry, the dawn chorus, song ‘duels’, the use of acoustic cues by nestlings, and dynamic movement signals (dance).
My first degree was a BSc/BMus from the Australian National University (ANU), which included a year as an exchange student at the University of Oxford. For my honours research she combined her interests in music and biology in a study of the function and structure of the dawn chorus in the superb fairy-wren, Malurus cyaneus, with Professor Andrew Cockburn. I pursued her interest in birdsong by working in Costa Rica on the banded wren, Thryophilus pleurostictus, with Professor Sandra Vehrencamp and Dr Michelle Hall from Cornell University, before assisting with a project on purple-crowned fairy-wrens, Malurus coronatus, in the Kimberley, run by Dr Anna Peters and Dr Hall at the Max Planck institute. Returning to the ANU she worked with Professor Cockburn and Professor Rob Magrath on superb fairy-wrens and white-browed scrubwrens, Sericornis frontalis, respectively, before commencing my PhD.
Leaving the wrens behind, my PhD investigated the ecology of vocal mimicry in one of the world’s most famous mimics: the superb lyrebird, Menura novaehollandiae. My study was conducted under the primary supervision of Professor Magrath, and advised by Professor Cockburn, Dr Hall, Dr Naomi Langmore and the late Dr Richard Zann